ABSTRACT
Scholarship drawing from a wide array of perspectives including field theoretical and functional differentiation approaches has shed increasing light on the sectoral dimensions of world politics. In contrast to dominant approaches emphasizing hierarchy and power in relations between global fields, this article offers a novel interpretive framework for understanding how diverse fields, systems, or sectors may interact and facilitate change in world politics beyond the operation of established hierarchies and power dynamics. Taking forward the previously underutilized concept of symbolically generalized media of communication, this article elucidates two processes of international political change by which different fields, systems, or sectors may transform world politics. The first process, lateral retreat, is illustrated with reference to the case study of the Protestant Reformation, in which internal changes in the religious field facilitated the development of an increasingly autonomous political domain. The second process, lateral penetration, is illustrated with reference to the international political response to the climate change and Covid-19 crises, in which the scientific sector contributed toward transformed political priorities and associated hierarchies, at least in the short term. These diverse cases are used to indicate the broad potential scope of application of the concept of symbolically generalized media of communication to enrich relational theorizing in the study of international relations, and to improve understanding of diverse dynamics of international political change missed in traditional power- (and anarchy-) centric accounts.
ABSTRACT
This article analyses the health, economic and social impact of COVID-19 on the Palestinian refugee population located in the different areas in which the UNRWA (the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees) works, focusing on refugee camps and how the pandemic has exacerbated their inhabitants' isolation, exclusion and lack of protection. In doing this, the study aims to sketch out lines of comparative analysis on certain key issues related to the effects of COVID-19 on long-term refugee populations: the impact on permanent camps and suburbanised spaces, the overlapping of prolonged emergency situations and the accumulated deficiencies in the protection and reception systems in settings of armed conflict and exclusion. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has been transmitted to more than 200 countries, with 92.5 million cases and 1,981,678 deaths. Methods: This study applied a mathematical model to estimate the increase in the number of cases in Sao Paulo state, Brazil during four epidemic periods and the subsequent 300 days. We used different types of dynamic transmission models to measure the effects of social distancing interventions, based on local contact patterns. Specifically, we used a model that incorporated multiple transmission pathways and an environmental class that represented the pathogen concentration in the environmental reservoir and also considered the time that an individual may sustain a latent infection before becoming actively infectious. Thus, this model allowed us to show how the individual quarantine and active monitoring of contacts can influence the model parameters and change the rate of exposure of susceptible individuals to those who are infected. Results: The estimated basic reproductive number, R-0, was 3.59 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.48 - 3.72). The mathematical model data prediction coincided with the real data mainly when the social distancing measures were respected. However, a lack of social distancing measures caused a significant increase in the number of infected individuals. Thus, if social distancing measures are not respected, we estimated a difference of at least 100,000 cases over the next 300 days. Conclusions: Although the predictive capacity of this model was limited by the accuracy of the available data, our results showed that social distancing is currently the best non-pharmacological measure.